Why Settle for a Brew When There’s a Whole Brewery?

Kills Boro Brewing Company shares a building with the Craft House bar in Staten Island.

John Taggart for The New York Times

By JOSHUA M. BERNSTEIN

August 23, 2017

Just a few years back, New York City was a brewery desert. Now, each month seems to bring another beer maker, and this fall will add a harvest of brewery expansions and openings.

Why should you care? Because the breweries come with tasting rooms that allow you to sample, and learn about, a beer just steps from where it’s made.

The cultish I.P.A. specialist Other Half Brewing swapped its cramped quarters in Gowanus, Brooklyn, this month for an adjacent warehouse it transformed into an airy tasting room with communal tables. “You can see the whole process at Other Half, from raw materials to finished product, and then have a seat in a room large enough to hang out in,” Matt Monahan, a founder, said.

Fans of Grimm Artisanal Ales, which has made its wares at other breweries along the East Coast, will be able to sip from-the-source beers at its own brewery in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in October. In December, Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, will get a brewery near the right-field gate: Mikkeller Brewing NYC, from a company based in Copenhagen.

Local brewers are also taking the solo leap. “I didn’t want to brew under anyone else’s thumb,” said Chris Cuzme, formerly of Gun Hill Brewing and 508 GastroBrewery, among others. He has teamed up with the lawyer David Scharfstein to found Fifth Hammer Brewing Company, which will open a brewery and taproom next month in Long Island City, Queens.

The name comes from a legend about the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who came across five men hammering at a forge; the fifth hammer created a distinctly discordant sound. “Fifth Hammer represents individuality and not being afraid to go your own way,” Mr. Cuzme said. He raided his collection of more than 300 hammers to create handles for taps, which will pour hoppy pilsners and I.P.A.s, as well as kombucha and iced coffee. Mr. Cuzme is also a saxophonist, and live music will be a mainstay. “I want to turn this into the living room for my musician friends,” Mr. Cuzme said. “We’re trying to be a hub of community and fun.”

In the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island, Philip Gardner, Patrick Wade and Sean Torres, members of the home-brew club Pour Standards, will open Kills Boro Brewing Company next month. It shares a building with the Craft House bar, which doubles as the brewery’s taproom. Regular offerings will include the tropical Kalima Pia cream ale, made with toasted coconut, as well as a rotating line of lush I.P.A.s brewed with oats.

Kills Boro is a 15-minute walk from the Staten Island Ferry terminal, close by Flagship Brewing, which opened in 2014. “A few years back, there were no breweries on Staten Island,” said Mr. Torres, who has lived there for more than 20 years. “We’re forming this beer trail and giving people an excuse to get off the ferry every once in a while.”

Sean Torres inside the Kills Boro Brewing Company, which will open next month.